Latest Ethiopian News - Economy

November 10, 2017 - Ethiopia’s government has forecast an overall 11 percent economic growth this Ethiopian fiscal year. The forecast by Ethiopian National Plan Commission is based on the performance of the first quarter of the budget year and an increase by 0.1 percent to that of last year.

In his presentation to HPR Budget and Finance Standing Committee today, National Plan Minister Dr. Yinager Dessie said Ethiopia’s economic growth has resulted in minimizing poverty and expansion of social services.

However, the country has been facing challenges in the export sector since the past four years.

October 14, 2017 - As part of its effort to augment its textile sector, Ethiopia’s government has launched a 15 years National Cotton Development Strategy aimed at positioning Ethiopia as the top cotton producer in Africa. The implementation of the strategy would enable Ethiopia to become top cotton producer in Africa from the current 10th place.

The strategy was launched with the view of tackling the challenges faced following ever growing demand for cotton in the country. The strategy is designed to increase the size of land cultivated with cotton to 250,000 hectares and one million hectares after five years and in 2032 respectively

October 5, 2017 - The government of Ethiopia has launched National Horticulture Development and Transaction Strategy, which aims at creating conducive environment for modernized horticulture development, reports Ethiopian News Agency. The strategy will play a significant role in improving productivity and quality of horticultural products, said Tesfaye Mengistu, State Minister of Ethiopian Agriculture and Natural Resource.

Improving quality and productivity, as well as modernizing the sector are the priority areas expected to attain through the strategy. The strategy, to be implemented over the next ten years, will allow providing exte

September 30, 2017 - The World Bank on Friday signed a $1.3 billion loan and grant agreement with Ethiopia’s government to improve governance and fund an anti-poverty package that provides financial relief for Ethiopians facing food shortages. The WB said a loan of $700 million would be used to "improve equitable access to basic services and strengthen accountability in Ethiopia" in education, health, agriculture and other sectors.

The remaining $600 million was a grant to finance Ethiopia’s "Rural Productive Safety Net" scheme, which is handing out cash or food to 8 million people in exchange

September 9, 2017 - Sugar factories across Ethiopia will become operational this budget year and fully meet the domestic demand, Ethiopian Government stated. Ethiopia’s Public Enterprises Minister, Dr. Girma Amente said there are encouraging improvements in the production of sugar, though the projects are late by two years in meeting the plan to export sugar.

“Of course we are late, but we are leaping forward,” the Ethiopian official stressed. According to the Minister, the recent export of sugar to Kenya was mainly meant to assess the market for future venture.

September 1, 2017 - The 50-megawatt (MW) Reppie Waste to Energy facility, which Ethiopia claims to be the first of its kind in Africa, will be commissioned in December, according to Ethiopian government officials. “The facility in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is 94.3-percent complete as of July,” said Bizuneh Tolcha, minster at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy (MoWIE).

The project is being built on Ethiopia's largest landfill commonly called "Koshe" (meaning dirty in Ethiopia's official working language Amharic), lying on 5.3 hectares of land. The landfill in recent ye

August 29, 2017 - An ethanol plant is to be built at Wonji Shoa sugar factory at a cost of 51 million US dollars, Fana broadcasting corporate reported. The construction of the first phase of the plant will be commenced in early upcoming Ethiopian New Year, which starts next month, and the second phase after next year.

Once completed, the new Ethiopia’s ethanol plant will produce 60,000 liters of ethanol per day using molasses, a by-product of sugar, from Wonji Shoa sugar factory, the report noted. Fincha and Metehara are the two sugar factories in Ethiopia that are currently producing ethanol from molasses.

August 26, 2017 - A study funded by the European Union and supported by Caribbean and Pacific Group of States revealed that Ethiopia has made fast progress in remittance flow in recent years. Presenting the study in Ethiopia, DMA Chief Executive Officer Leon Isaacs said the growth over the years represents more than 5.3 percent of the Ethiopia's GDP.

He said subsequent directives such as zero charge tariff on transfer services issued by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NEB) to improve remittance flow has supported Ethiopia to increase remittance flow.

August 23, 2017 - Ethiopia, which was under emergency rule for the most part of last year, is working to compensate for last year’s tourism sector performance by increasing tourist inflow, Ethiopian News Agency reports. Ethiopia’s plans aims at boosting the sector’s performance so as to fill the gap in terms of revenue.

The plan for the current Ethiopian fiscal year, being developed with the participation of stakeholders, has been drafted with this consideration, said Gezahegn Abate, PR Director at the Ministry.

Last year, the country has earned over 3.3 billion USD revenue, 88 percent of the plan, despite the interl

August 19, 2017 - During the 2016/17 Ethiopian Fiscal, Ethiopia has obtained 3.4 billion U.S. dollars in grants and loans from multilateral and bilateral partners, Xinhua reports. According to Haji Ibsa, Communications Director at Ethiopia Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation said the financial assistance will be used to execute new or ongoing projects. The foreign loans and grants covered 18 percent of the 12.7 billion U.S. dollars Ethiopia’s budget for the 2016/17 fiscal year.

In recent years Ethiopia has been able to mobilize greater amount of tax and non-tax revenue, allowing it to cover more than 80 percent of its

August 9, 2017 - Newly discovered precious gemstones in Ethiopia, sapphire and emerald, generated over 7.8 million dollars, reports Addis Fortune. The two gemstones were discovered in Oromia and Tigray regional states, according to the report.

Geological surveys proved that Ethiopia has abundant mineral resources. As a result, the mining sector remains one of the priority sector in GTP II, with main strategic directions of attracting sizable foreign direct investment (FDI) for exploration and extraction of minerals, increase (tenfold) foreign exchange earnings of the sector and focus on production of mineral inputs for the manufact

July 22, 2017 - The number of jobs created by Chinese investors in Ethiopia has reached more than 28,000, according to Xinhau. According to the report, a total of 28,391 jobs were created by 279 Chinese companies in Ethiopia during the period of January 2012 to January 2017, of which 20,072 were permanent while the remaining 8,319 were temporary jobs. “Out of these jobs, over 19,000 were created in Ethiopia’s manufacturing sector as Ethiopia is leading its African peers by attracting companies from China both in numbers and financial capital, with a total number of 276 projects both under implementation and operation phase during the stated p

July 6, 2017 - The Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency (CSA) reported that food inflation slowed to 11.2 percent in June from 12.3 percent in the previous month, reports Reuters. The authority has attributed the slowdown to the decline the prices of vegetables, pulses, potatoes and other tubers. Nevertheless, the price of fruit has increased in June when compared to May.

According to the report by CSA, food inflation slowed to 11.2 percent in June from 12.3 percent. Non-food inflation, on the other hand, has increase from 4.7 percent in May to 6.7 percent in June. This was attributed to the rise in the prices of clothing and footwear as

June 28, 2017 - Draft law which aims at allowing private investors to engage in railway transportation service has been prepared, according to the Reporter. If passed by the law maker, the draft bill, dubbed Railway Transportation Administration, allows investors to use the national railway infrastructure. In other words, private companies are now allowed to give services on the already built railway infrastructures. This is in the midst of Ethiopia Railway Corporation’s (ERC) debt mounting at a staggering level, which reached 120 billion Birr.

The draft proclamation was presented to the lower house, House of Peopl

June 19, 2017 - A Chinese-led waste-to-energy project will start generating power in September in Ethiopia's biggest garbage dump, which will help fuel the country's rapidly growing economy.

The Reppi Waste-to-Energy project in Kolfe Keranio, a sub-city of the capital Addis Ababa, is slated to be opened in September, China's People's Daily newspaper reported on Monday.

The project is a significant part of the cooperation between China and Ethiopia, as the country is seeking to develop its green energy capacity, Azeb Asnake, CEO of Ethiopian Electric Power told the People's Daily.

January 26, 2017 - Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) has signed over five billion birr road construction and upgrading agreements with local and international contractors today, according to ENA.

Director-General of Ethiopian Roads Authority, Araya Girmay, signed the agreements with Ethiopian, Chinese and Russian contractors.

During the occasion, the director-general said that the 357kms roads to be constructed and upgraded are in Oromia, Somali, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples, and Benishangul-Gumuz regional states.

The projects will connect rural areas with regional cities and towns, it was indica

January 17, 2017 - During his latest press conference Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn confirmed that his government is in the process of selling shares of the Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise (ESLSE), which is the only state run company that owns commercial boats in Africa, to an undisclosed company, according to Capital.

The PM explained that the costs of inland transportation out way the costs of transportation by sea because of logistical issues and the cost of moving freight in Ethiopia. He pointed out that, “the newly inaugurated